


Smoke Alert

by belivaird_st



Category: Carol (2015), The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 08:27:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23848180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belivaird_st/pseuds/belivaird_st
Summary: One evening when Therese tries to cook dinner but ends up setting off the smoke detector instead.
Relationships: Carol Aird/Therese Belivet
Kudos: 44





	Smoke Alert

Carol flipped a new page from the Princess storybook and kept reading out loud in a clear, soothing tone of voice, with Rindy’s head nestled beneath her chin. Her long eyelashes were peering down at the bold sentence of words printed above the illustrator’s watercolor artwork. Both mother and daughter were laying in bed with pillows tucked behind their backs. Everything was calm and content until the smoke detector went off in the next room.

_“Beeeep! Beeeep! Beeeep!”_

The piercing smoke alarm had spooked Rindy and made her seize underneath Carol’s arm that was draped around her waist.

“Uh oh, that must be your aunt Therese burning something,” Carol consoled her daughter, planting a small kiss to her forehead before loosening her grip to get down from the bed. Rindy somberly picked up the light purple hardcover book and kept her tiny fingers inside the pages where Carol left off. Her mother told her there was nothing to be scared of and that everything was going to be fine.

Carol found Therese desperately trying to fan out all the smoke through the kitchen window in a pair of dark green oven mitts. Their dinner of Shepard’s Pie was ruined.

Carol took the liberty to drag one of the chairs and set in the middle of the room to climb on top of it. She quickly ejected a plastic tab and pulled the batteries out. The smoke detector had automatically shut off. Carol cradled the batteries in one closed fist, peering down at Therese’s humiliation.

“I read the timer wrong and left the dish too long,” she explained, her chest was heaving in the white short-sleeve button blouse she wore. Her face glistened with heat and strands of her dark hair curled at her temples with sweat.

“My little home wrecker,” Carol teased.


End file.
